Common passive safety systems used to protect occupants in a front-end collision include airbags packaged within the steering wheel and dashboard of a vehicle. During a front-end collision, the rate of deceleration of the vehicle is quite rapid. Conventional airbags deploy when the collision is detected by one or more sensors. For example, the collision may be detected when a crumple zone along the front frame of the vehicle has been compressed by approximately half of its overall length.
Since airbags are generally not deployed until the occupants within the vehicle have moved a significant distance toward the steering wheel or dashboard, the airbags have only a small time window to exert sufficient force to decelerate the occupants. The extremely fast deployment time and high force requirements of airbags that may result in airbag-related injuries to the arms, head, and neck.
Pre-collision sensors may be used to deploying airbags prior to an imminent collision, allowing more time to decelerate occupants, which reduces the overall deployment force for the airbags. However, deployment is irreversible and undesirable when the collision does not occur or occurs in a manner that is different than anticipated by the pre-collision sensors. Further, airbags can only be used with occupants meeting certain height or weight thresholds (e.g., adults).